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I've been reading "Darknet" via Kindle and it has this idea of "autonomous companies" that do high frequency trading, shuffle around money, and eventually even

I've been reading "Darknet" via Kindle and it has this idea of "autonomous companies" that do high frequency trading, shuffle around money, and eventually even start "replacing" people by email and video chat. As we have more and more of these systems tied together - usually via APIs - I think it's getting more more likely where things can "just work" transparently. If I need gas for the car, it can go get it, billing to my account on file. If I need diapers for the kid, the system detects that, orders them automatically, delivers them automatically, etc. There are few humans involved anywhere. It's a fascinating and has society-shaking implications.

lowglow 10y ago
Check out my comment. I'd love your reply/thoughts since you've been thinking about this as well. :)
xivzgrev 10y ago
I agree that will be a start. But knowing that you need more diapers isn't particularly revolutionary - just order the same ones, we are almost there - just have to connect the cabinet to Amazon dash. What will blow my mind is when we have computers that can take an idea - "shit, I just had a kid, I need diapers" - and successfully mimic my purchase criteria and find the diapers that I would've found in my own research process. It wouldn't need me to define my purchase criteria - it would already know me well enough to successfully predict in most cases. At some point we'll have mind readers. Be careful of thinking you want a jelly donut - Postmastes is already on the way.
- TAForObvReasons 10y ago
  > At some point we'll have mind readers. Be careful of thinking you want a jelly donut - Postmastes is already on the way. For years, Target has been trying to find likely pregnant women based on shopping patterns. There's a strange anecdote where a daughter received pregnancy-related ads and it turned out she was actually pregnant! NYT article discussing this: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.h...

lowglow 10y ago

Check out my comment. I'd love your reply/thoughts since you've been thinking about this as well. :)

xivzgrev 10y ago

I agree that will be a start. But knowing that you need more diapers isn't particularly revolutionary - just order the same ones, we are almost there - just have to connect the cabinet to Amazon dash. What will blow my mind is when we have computers that can take an idea - "shit, I just had a kid, I need diapers" - and successfully mimic my purchase criteria and find the diapers that I would've found in my own research process. It wouldn't need me to define my purchase criteria - it would already know me well enough to successfully predict in most cases. At some point we'll have mind readers. Be careful of thinking you want a jelly donut - Postmastes is already on the way.

TAForObvReasons 10y ago
> At some point we'll have mind readers. Be careful of thinking you want a jelly donut - Postmastes is already on the way. For years, Target has been trying to find likely pregnant women based on shopping patterns. There's a strange anecdote where a daughter received pregnancy-related ads and it turned out she was actually pregnant! NYT article discussing this: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.h...